Although there is a huge and growing appetite for greater education in India, girls are still getting a raw deal. In the state of Bihar, for example, a large proportion of girls simply don't bother with school and are often married off to older men, often suffering violence and abuse as a result. The Mahila Samakh...

Although there is a huge and growing appetite for greater education in India, girls are still getting a raw deal. In the state of Bihar, for example, a large proportion of girls simply don't bother with school and are often married off to older men, often suffering violence and abuse as a result. The Mahila Samakhya schools have been created to change that. Learning skills such as karate, how to ride a bike and weaving, as well as the traditional...Although there is a huge and growing appetite for greater education in India, girls are still getting a raw deal. In the state of Bihar, for example, a large proportion of girls simply don't bother with school and are often married off to older men, often suffering violence and abuse as a result. The Mahila Samakhya schools have been created to change that. Learning skills such as karate, how to ride a bike and weaving, as well as the traditional subjects, girls learn to fend for themselves and earn a living. This film joins Sharmila, a 25 year old dalit, or untouchable, who 9 years ago could not read or write. Now she can do all of that and more. She owns her own house and land, helping her family, and teaching young girls who will go on to attend a Mahila Samakhya school.
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Meet Ms Rebiya Kadeer, a human rights activist twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She is the impassioned though graying exiled leader of the Uyghurs, a Muslim people whose ancestral home, East Turkestan, was annexed by the Chinese in 1949 and re-named Xinxiang province. Since then the Chinese have dominate...

Meet Ms Rebiya Kadeer, a human rights activist twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She is the impassioned though graying exiled leader of the Uyghurs, a Muslim people whose ancestral home, East Turkestan, was annexed by the Chinese in 1949 and re-named Xinxiang province. Since then the Chinese have dominated politically, culturally and economically, much as they have done in Tibet. Ms Kadeer was fiercely nationalistic since her youth. Marr...Meet Ms Rebiya Kadeer, a human rights activist twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She is the impassioned though graying exiled leader of the Uyghurs, a Muslim people whose ancestral home, East Turkestan, was annexed by the Chinese in 1949 and re-named Xinxiang province. Since then the Chinese have dominated politically, culturally and economically, much as they have done in Tibet. Ms Kadeer was fiercely nationalistic since her youth. Married off at an early age and bearing six children in close succession, she was divorced by her husband for her activism. Penniless, she rose through her wits and industry to become one of the wealthiest people in China, after Deng ushered in an era of capitalism. Remaining politically active, she paid the price. Several of her sons languish in Chinese prisons while she and her second husband, in exile, keep alive the protest movement from abroad. Using archival footage, the film traces the violent conflict between Chinese and Uyghurs. She is the tireless head of the Uyghur American Association, based in Washington DC, where she lobbies Congress to press for human rights in China. College Adult
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This upbeat film, produced for the Bejing Women's Conference, focuses on the lives of four women of diverse ages and backgrounds who have broken ground in new fields. They are questioning age-old traditions as they forge careers in their respective societies. Asthma Jahangir, an internationally renowned lawyer fro...

This upbeat film, produced for the Bejing Women's Conference, focuses on the lives of four women of diverse ages and backgrounds who have broken ground in new fields. They are questioning age-old traditions as they forge careers in their respective societies. Asthma Jahangir, an internationally renowned lawyer from Pakistan is outspokenly critical of the barriers placed in her way in this male-dominated profession. In Guatemala, Sandra Gonzalez,...This upbeat film, produced for the Bejing Women's Conference, focuses on the lives of four women of diverse ages and backgrounds who have broken ground in new fields. They are questioning age-old traditions as they forge careers in their respective societies. Asthma Jahangir, an internationally renowned lawyer from Pakistan is outspokenly critical of the barriers placed in her way in this male-dominated profession. In Guatemala, Sandra Gonzalez, a single parent, is a labor organizer at the textile factory where she works. At personal risk she has rallied her colleagues to unionize. Mara Kimele, a Latvian theater director, is at the forefront of the arts in her newly independent country. Immigrant Tam Goossen, formerly from Hong Kong, has successfully won an election in her newly adopted homeland, while at the same time raising a young daughter and caring for an ailing mother. These achieving women are paving the way for their sisters around the world. High School College Adult
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This video focuses on Soraya Altorki, originally from Saudi Arabia, who is now a professor of anthropology at the American University in Cairo. She had to get her education abroad because schooling was not possible for a woman in Saudi Arabia. She recalls with humor the incongruity of being a sheltered Saudi Arabi...

This video focuses on Soraya Altorki, originally from Saudi Arabia, who is now a professor of anthropology at the American University in Cairo. She had to get her education abroad because schooling was not possible for a woman in Saudi Arabia. She recalls with humor the incongruity of being a sheltered Saudi Arabian woman at the University of California, Berkeley, during the radical sixties. After receiving her Ph.D. and stirred by the Arab defea...This video focuses on Soraya Altorki, originally from Saudi Arabia, who is now a professor of anthropology at the American University in Cairo. She had to get her education abroad because schooling was not possible for a woman in Saudi Arabia. She recalls with humor the incongruity of being a sheltered Saudi Arabian woman at the University of California, Berkeley, during the radical sixties. After receiving her Ph.D. and stirred by the Arab defeat in the Six Day War, she decided to return to the Arab world.In this candid portrait, she and her educated women colleagues express their fears that the fundamentalist movement will take away their hard-won achievements. Yet, they also resent the lack of understanding of their culture among Westerners and the tendency to regard Muslim women as all the same, without regard to class or education. Member of a series: Women in the Arab World. College Adult
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Puberty is one of the most vulnerable times in a girl's life. For young women around the world it is a time of transition, but in societies where women are not valued, puberty can be the beginning of a life of abuse and even early death. Through the stories of four young women coming of age in different parts of t...

Puberty is one of the most vulnerable times in a girl's life. For young women around the world it is a time of transition, but in societies where women are not valued, puberty can be the beginning of a life of abuse and even early death. Through the stories of four young women coming of age in different parts of the world, Rights of Passage looks at what can be the personal cost of this transition.

Filmed with sensitivity in Nicaragua, India, Jam...

Puberty is one of the most vulnerable times in a girl's life. For young women around the world it is a time of transition, but in societies where women are not valued, puberty can be the beginning of a life of abuse and even early death. Through the stories of four young women coming of age in different parts of the world, Rights of Passage looks at what can be the personal cost of this transition.

Filmed with sensitivity in Nicaragua, India, Jamaica and Burkina Faso, it allows the adolescent girls to speak for themselves. Aleyda in Nicaragua is addicted to glue sniffing and is slipping into a life of prostitution; Tarranum in India has been pulled out of school and is waiting to be married off; in Jamaica, Natalyn is fourteen years old and seven months pregnant and Adjara in Burkina Faso faces the prospect of female genital mutilation.

Rights of Passage is an important contribution to American understanding of the vulnerability of young women in societies where their horizons are limited to physical labor and child bearing.